ANGELES CITY- Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan is embarking on an ambitious P7-billion politics-proof project to make this city’s Abacan River both an economic and tourism attraction.
“It’s a project covering what we call the Abacan development corridor that will be pursued over the next 25 years regardless of who takes over as mayor in the years to come,” Pamintuan said in a recent press conference at the Museo ning Angeles here.
Pamintuan explained that the Abacan project is within the land use plan submitted and already approved last year by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) and thus should be pursued by the future city administrations.
“That corridor will change the landscape at the Abacan,” he said, noting that after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, the same river had been an active lahar flow channel that caused devastation in Angeles.
City planning officer Davie David noted that land value along the Abacan riverbank is almost zero at present, amid threats of erosion during heavy rains. “We have to do engineering works against erosion and clear the banks from Barangay Pulong Maragul to Sapang Bato,” he said.
David said that part of the P7-billion plan, which will be done in three phases, is the development of a watershed at the upper reaches of Abacan, amid forecast of water shortage arising from possible depletion of aquifers or underground water source after some 20 years.
He said that the watershed would pave the way to tapping surface water sources from the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo, as well as the development of a hydro dam for power generation. “To control the strong flows of waters in the Abacan channel, our plan is to create a series of dams across portions of the river. This could also enable us to develop the channel itself into an attraction where tourists can boat,” he also said.
Pamintuan also noted plans to build a boulevard along the Abacan River, connecting the North Luzon Expressway to the Subic-Clark- Tarlac Expressway. “This will increase real estate value in barangays traversed by the Abacan,” he added.
David estimated that the cost of the Phase 1 of the Abacan corridor project would be some P2 billion, Phase 2 about P1.1 billion, and Phase 3 about P4 billion. Meanwhile, Pamintuan said hundreds of families illegally settling along the banks of Abacan are now being relocated.
He estimated at least 2,500 more families in the city need to be relocated, although 500 other families have already been moved to resettlement areas. Pamintuan said Angeles has already closed its doors to informal settlers from outside the city, even as he warned barangay officials of sanctions should they tolerate the entry of more informal settlers in their areas.
